We Will Never Pay, So Stop Harassing Us

By Cindy Sheehan, Mike and Friends Blog

10 November 11

In this open letter to the IRS, Ms. Sheehan tells Federal tax collectors that she refuses to pay 'your bill' for the cost of the war that took her son's life. -JPS/RSN

o: Whom it may concern in the Internal Revenue Service (hereafter known as IRS).

From: Cindy Sheehan, grieving mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04

From: Christy (Dede) Miller, grieving aunt of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04

RE: Recent Notices of Levy and SUMMONS to appear from the IRS to Cindy Sheehan

COPY: The American People

"How does it become a wo(man) to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that s/he cannot without disgrace be associated with it." -- Henry David Thoreau

We recently have received your "Notice of Levy," and "SUMMONS."

Let us be clear why we are not paying your bill.

On April 04, 2004, three of your co-workers in the Military branch of the US government came to Cindy's home to inform us that her oldest son, Casey, had been "killed in combat in Iraq." After Cindy somehow pulled herself from the floor after falling there screaming, "NO, NO, NO!" the Grim Reapers in Army costumes didn't have much more to tell Casey's shocked and devastated family, except they asked Cindy for her Social Security number.

Let us go back a little farther than 04/04/04—let us go back to September 11, 2001 when the US was attacked and over 3000 Americans were killed. There is much evidence that even if 9/11 was not "an inside job," there are many irregularities and lies in the "official story." Whatever happened that day, the tragedy was used to justify the illegal and supremely immoral invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan—and today, the current regime is still using the, "we were attacked on 9/11," meme to justify its crimes of aggression against, not only the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, but Pakistan, Somalia, Uganda, Yemen and Palestine (via the billions the US gives to Israel every year). Not to mention the outrageous attack on the people of Libya and recent assassination of Moammar Gaddaffi for the purpose of regime change to a more pro-U.S. corporate government.

Casey was only in the Army anyway because one of your colleagues in the Military branch lied to him and I think it's been pretty well proven that these wars embarked upon by the US were based on lies—but the confessed liars such as: Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and George Tenet, among others, are still roaming free and profiting off of the wars through unethical connections to the war machine, books and speaking engagements. There is also much evidence that these people and other Kleptocrats just take, take, take from us and have many, many loopholes that protect them from paying too much in income taxes from their ill-gotten gains.

Another example of a war profiteer not paying any taxes is General Electric. Not only does GE realize vast profits from these illegal and immoral wars of terror that are currently being waged all over the world, but it also profits off of the highly dangerous nuclear power technology that is poisoning the planet as we speak. GE not only did not pay any taxes for the year 2010, it received a "1.1 billion dollar tax benefit" (according to CNN Money) for its tax filings in the U.S. How did GE do this when it made a 10.8 billion dollar profit in 2010? The company recorded a loss here in the U.S. of 408 million. GE is just one company or wealthy individual that has teams of lawyers and accountants to drive trucks through the loopholes the U.S. government legislates for them. Are you saying we owe more money than General Electric?

Well, our family recorded a loss in 2004 that is priceless. How can one put a value on a human being—an oldest child—a beloved nephew? Dozens of people who knew Casey are still feeling his loss in very profound and painful ways—Cindy grew his body in her body giving him the best nutrients she could for his health—she gave birth to him after 20 hours of labor on May 29th, 1979—she loved him and nurtured him with the milk from her own body for 14 months—she sat up with him when he was ill—she helped him with his homework and Cindy sewed his Boy Scout patches on his sash and stood with him when he was awarded his Eagle Scout Award—she sobbed when he went to war and her life was over the day his was.

Being childless herself, Christy adores her nieces and nephews and was like a 2nd Mom to Casey—and is still very, very close to Casey's three surviving siblings and their children, today. How can you say any of us who have had our loved ones stolen from us for lies owe you even one more penny? Does the abuse know no end?

For almost five decades of our lives, we sisters were taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. Sure, we got the occasional traffic or parking tickets, but we dutifully paid them or went to traffic school. IRS Agent, can you imagine in your Revenuer's heart the agony we felt when we realized that we had funded the murder of our own dear Casey? As our awareness grew, so did our disgust with our complicity in this system as the body count for totally innocent civilians rose. We now feel that for at least 30 years of taxpaying perfidy, we funded the murders and torture of millions! The only way we could live with ourselves was to stop being accessories to our government's war crimes and crimes against humanity.

To whoever is reading this: You're a working stiff aren't you? You work for one of the most evil agencies in a deeply corrupt and criminal organization, but you are still a working person! Does it bother you that the banks and Wall Street have received billions of bailout dollars from the U.S. government while you are taking money from people in our own class to do so? Does it bother you that the rich are getting wealthier and you have to try and collect your pound of flesh, or blood money, from a mother and an auntie who have already had their own flesh and blood violently ripped from their lives?

To honor Casey's needless sacrifice and to protect others, we will not pay these bills. You do what you have to do, but our membership in the human race demands that we withhold money from such a homicidal, nay genocidal cabal as the US government. Scores of people in this nation have taken the principled stand that we take and we feel that our moral compasses trump your "laws." We could have taken the strategy of only paying a portion of our taxes like some do, but we feel we have no control over where our money is spent.

If Citizens United (Citizens United v. The Federal Elections Commission) can claim that money is Free Speech and it can spend freely on its political causes, then we feel we have the same right to withhold our money in an act of moral courage and loyalty to not only our brothers, sisters and children being murdered, displaced or tortured, but to our own First Amendment Rights. We have sacrificed much and invested not only our own money, but also our very lives in our campaigns for peace and justice. We will never again co-operate with the USA in its crimes against peace.

You can try and make an example of us, but we will fight you tooth and nail and we will put the wars of your government on trial. If it comes to that, peace will get its day in court, finally. Let's put the real criminals on trial, huh?

We strongly reiterate: we won't help fund the terrorism of this government abroad and the economic terrorism of this government here at home.

Like we said before, we can't put a value on Casey's life, and since we were not his dependents, we can't place a value on his potential future earnings. We can only mourn his loss and the loss of any potential children he may have had and the life he may have lived if he were not killed for lies—this is a fact that we will have to deal with every day of the rest of our lives—we don't need the additional harassment of his murderers on top of this tragic and unnecessary reality.

Any questions?